William Labov Studies in the Black English Vernacular‘The following are reprinted by permission: “Some Sources of Reading Problems for Speakers ofthe Black English Vernacular,” New Directions in Elementary English, ed. Alexander Frazier (Champaign, Ii: National Council of Teachers of English, 1967); reprinted by permission of National Council of Teachers of English. "Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula,” Language 45, 4 (December 1969); reprinted by permission of Linguistic Society of America. “Rules for Ritual Insults,” Studies in Social interaction, ed, David Sudnow (New York: Free Press, 1972); reprinted by permission of The Macmillan Company. Copyright © 1972 University of Pennsylvania Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-ree paper 109 Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4011 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Labov, William Language in the inner city: studies in the Black English vernacular / William Labov P. cm — (University of Pennsylvania Press Conduct and Communication series) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8122-1051-4 (pbk. alk. paper) 1. Black English—United States, 2. Multicultural educstion—United States. 3. Urban dialects—United States, 4. Americanisms. |. Title PE3102.N4 131972 42719 72-80377 apaa oo CONTENTS List of Figures List of Tables Introduction Parte THE STRUCTURE OF THE BLACK ENGLISH VERNACULAR Some Sources of Reading Problems for Speakers of the Black English Vernacular Is the Black English Vernacular a Separate System? Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English Copula Negative Attraction and Negative Concord PARTI THE VERNACULAR IN ITS SOCIAL SETTING ‘The Logic of Nonstandard English ‘The Relation of Reading Failure to Peer-Group Status ‘The Linguistic Consequences of Being a Lame PART Ht THE USES OF THE BLACK ENGLISH VERNACULAR, Rules for Ritual Insults The Transformation of Experience in Narrative Syntax Bibliography Index vii val XU ges BB Be R238FIGURES Fig. 1.1. Effect of a following vowel on /st/final clusters for four black and three white speakers Fig. 1.2. Effect of grammatical status on /t,d/ of final clusters for one black and one white speaker Fig. 1.3. Effect of stylistic level and grammatical status on /A.d/ of final clusters for one black speaker Fig. 1.4. Simplification of /t,d/ and /s,z/ final clusters for two groups of black adolescent boys Fig. 1.5. Correlation between Metropolitan Reading Test scores and reading of the -ed suffix for 46 BEV speakers Fig, 2.1. Crossproducts for peer groups and selected adults 3:1, Fig. 3.2. Fig. 3.3. Fig. 3.4. Percentages of full, contracted, and deleted forms of is with pronoun subject vs. other noun-phrase subject for six groups in single group (casual) style Fig. 3.5. Percentages of full, contracted, and deleted forms of is according to grammatical category of complement Fig. 3.6. Independence of contraction and deletion Fig. 3.7. Contraction for the Inwood groups Figs, 3. Ce Fig. 3.9. Percentages of full, contracted, and deleted forms of is according to preceding and following environments Fig. 3.10. Effect of a preceding consonant or vowel upon operation of the contraction and deletion rules for six groups Fig. 4.1. Fig. 6.1. Grade and reading achievement for 32 nonmembers of street groups in south-central Harlem Fig. 62. Grade and reading achievement for 46 members of street groups in south-central Harlem viii 26 Bsyss 8 S888 &Figures Fig. 7.1, Hang-out pattern of the Thunderbirds Fig. 7.2. Use of the variable (r) by preadolescent groups Fig. 7.3. Use of deletion rule for is and are by preadolescent ‘Thunderbirds and 1390 Lames 7.4. Location of the Jets in south-central Harlem 7.5. Hang-out pattern for the Jets: 100’s block - 9.1.TABLES ‘Table 1.1, Overall simplification of /t.d/ consonant clusters for two New Yorkers ‘Table 1.2. Overall simplification of /s,z/ consonant clusters for two New Yorkers Table 2.1. Social and stylistic stratification of average /r/ indices for BEV and WNS groups Table 2.1’. Application of r-vocalization rule to four vernaculars ‘Table 2.1.”. Application of r-vocalization rule according to the categorical rule Table 2.2. Social and stylistic stratification of /td/ deletion Table 3.1. Percentages of forms of is with pronoun subject vs. other noun-phrase subject ‘Table 3.2, Percentages of forms of is, according to grammatical category of complement ‘Table 3.3. Percentages of full, contracted, and deleted forms according to phonetic forms of preceding element ‘Table 3.4. Frequency of operation of deletion and contraction rules with preceding consonant or vowel ‘Table 3.5. Frequency of operation of deletion and contraction rules according to preceding and following environments ‘Table 3.6, Prediction of contraction in Table 3.5 by ren/Sankoff model ‘amples of phonological deviations of selected lexical items Table 3.8. Effect of grammatical environment on deletion of the copula for black speakers in Detroit Table 4.1. Grammaticality judgments of 52 subjects on conditions for obligatory negative attraction ‘Table 4.2. Negative attraction to four quai Table 4.3. Negative attraction to four quan Table 4.4. Use of the negative concord rule by speakers of the black English vernacular and others % 7 42 42 45 140 171 161Tables xi Table 4.5. Use of negative concord by preadolescent BEV speakors in West Philadelphia 184 Table 4.6, Use of negative concord in four English dialects 193 Table 7.1. Relation of central peer groups to all boys 6 to 19 in 1390 Fifth Avenue 261 Table 7.2. Linguistic correlates of peer-group status: phonological variables for preadolescents 264 Table 7.3. Use of contraction and deletion rules by Thunderbirds and 1390 Lames 269 Table 7.4. Person-number agreement of have, do, want, say for BEV peer-group members and other groups ‘Table 7.5 Person-number agreement for was and were for BEV peer-group members and other groups 272 Table 7.6. Use of standard verb forms by club members, lames, and whites Table 7.7 Names given and received by Jets in answer to the hang-out question Table 7.8. Use of contraction and deletion rules for is by subdivisions of the Jets and lames Table 7.9. Social characteristics of Jet and Cobra clubs Table 9.1. Displacement sets for John L.'s narrative about the baddest girl in the neighborhood Table 9.2. Total use of evaluative categories in narrative by age ‘Table 9.3, Number of narrators using evaluative devices at least once 8.8 9.88 8INTRODUCTION These explorations of the black English vernacular will con- sider the language, the culture, the social organization, and the political situation of black youth in the inner cities of the United States. They begin with problems of linguistic analysis—the concerns of a linguist who asks how dialect differences may cause reading failure—and they extend to broader areas because the problem cannot be solved by the study of grammar narrowly conceived. But the black English vernacular is at the heart of the matter: it defines and is defined by the social organization of peer groups in the inner city. By the “black English vernacular” we mean the relatively uniform dialect spoken by the majority of black youth in most parts of the United States today, especially in the inner city areas of New York, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other urban centers. It is also spoken in most rural areas and used in the casual, intimate speech of many adults, The term “black English” is not suitable for this dialect, since that phrase implies a dichotomy between Standard English on the one hand and black English on the other. “Black English” might best be used for the whole range of language forms used by black people in the United States: a very large range indeed, extending from the Creole grammar of Gullah spoken in the Sea Islands of South Carolina to the most formal and accomplished literary style. A great deal of misunderstanding has been created by the use of this term, “black English,” which replaced our original “Nonstandard Negro English” when the latter became less acceptable to many people. Throughout this volume I will then refer to the black English vernacular (BEV) as that relatively uniform grammar found in its most consistent form in the speech of black youth from 8 to 19 years old who participate fully in the street culture of the inner cities. Even xiiixiv INTRODUCTION within that restricted scope, there are no doubt regional differences not yet charted, and we are continuing to discover new aspects of the grammar in our past records and in new observations. The findings reported here are the work of four investigators: myself, Paul Cohen, Clarence Robins, and John Lewis. Our work focuses on certain aspects of BEV grammar which assumed impor- tance for us because of our interest in reading problems as well as our theoretical concerns. The definitive work on the grammar of BEV has not yet been done and will no doubt be written by black linguists who fully participate in the vernacular culture. In our own group competence is divided between white research- ers (Labov and Cohen) who are primarily linguists and outsiders to the vernacular culture, and black researchers (Robins and Lewis) who know the culture of the inner city as full participants and share a deep understanding of it, but who remain relative outsiders to linguistic theory. There are advantages to that combination, espe- cially when it is coupled with controlled sociolinguistic methods; but we are looking forward to the deeper penetration that can be achieved by linguists from the black community. In 1965, we began research supported by the Office of Education into the differences between the vernacular language of south-central Harlem and the standard English of the classroom (Cooperative Research Projects 3091 and 3288). Our major concern was the reading failure that was painfully obvious in the New York City schools. Did dialect differences have anything to do with it? From the outset, we did not feel that the study of the internal structure of BEV—its grammar and sound system—would provide all the answers we needed. It was true enough that this vernacular provided a great challenge for linguistic theory; while we generally understood what people were saying—especially the two members of the group who were raised in the community—yet we did not know the grammar. But as we proceeded, it seemed ever clearer that the major reading problems did not stem from structural interference in any simple sense, and our concern with the uses of the vernacular increased. One major conclusion of our work as it emerges in this volume is that the major causes of reading failure are political and cultural conflicts in the classroom, and dialect differences are important because they are symbols of this conflict. We must then understand the way in which the vernacular culture uses language and how verbal skills develop in this culture. The tests,Introduction xv trials, screens, and checks of the school system report failure for black youth in a regular and systematic way; but they do not explain that failure (chapter 5). We find no connection between linguistic skill in the vernacular culture and success in reading (chapter 6). A large part of our work involved the documentation of those verbal skills, and the analysis of vernacular speech events (chapters 8 and 9). Our research is outside of school or any other adult-dominated, institutional setting; but we did gain access to the school records of our subjects and gain some insight into why these verbal skills could not be used in school ‘The organization of this book reflects this dual approach to the structure and function of language. Part I (chapters 1-4) deals with the grammar and the sound system of the black English vernacular, especially the area where the two systems intersect. Chapters 1 and 2 are written with both linguistic and educational problems in mind, in a relatively nontechnical style which I hope will be accessible to all interested readers. Chapter 1 focuses on reading problems which may in fact proceed from such structural differences, but also shows in some detail how we approach such problems as the varia- tion in simplification of consonant clusters, its effects on the -ed suffix and the consequences for reading. Chapter 2 addresses the broader question of whether BEV is a separate system, or more exactly, to what extent it forms a separate system and must be treated as such by those teaching standard English grammar. The approach here is synchronic—concerned with what the dialect is now in the urban centers where it is most uniform; at the same time, I try to indicate where the hypothesis of a Creole origin has illuminated my own thinking and is supported in the data. Chapters 3 and 4 are detailed studies of specific aspects of the vernacular structure. Chapter 3 deals with the contraction and dele- tion of the copula, and its location in a larger set of ordered phono- logical rules. Chapter 4 concerns negative concord, or multiple negation, a nonstandard feature which involves a great many other aspects of English grammar. These are both technical studies, written primarily for linguists, and many readers interested in broader questions may not find them accessible. The findings of Chapters 3 and 4 are summarized in the previous and following chapters, and the book is so designed that a reader may move from chapter 2 to chapter 5 without loss of continuity. On the other hand, many will find that chapters 3 and 4, making up one third of thisxvi INTRODUCTION book, are the most important parts for them. Chapter 3 is a study of variability which provides the basis for the development of varia- ble rules, including recent innovations in the formal interpretation of these rules following Cedergren and Sankoff’s probability model. Chapter 4 is a companion study of invariance, contrasting the oblig- atory rule of negative attraction with the variable rule of negative concord; it explores in some detail the relation of quantifiers to negation and the underlying features of the indeterminate any. Chapters 3 and 4 therefore provide the detailed background for the overall view of a socially realistic linguistics set forth in chapters 8 and 9 of Sociolinguistic Patterns (1972). Part II examines the vernacular in its social setting, looking di- rectly at the relations between the social system and the vernacular culture. “The Logic of Nonstandard English” (chapter 5) is a polemic directed against the deficit theory of educational psychologists who see the language of black children as inadequate for learning and logical thinking. This chapter also aims to show the relevance of linguistic data to the position of Jensen and others who claim that black children are genetically deficient in the ability to form concepts and solve problems. I have attempted to capture here the extraor- dinary consensus of linguists on this matter. Since this statement first appeared in the Georgetown Monograph Series of 1969, it has been widely reprinted; see also “Academic Ignorance and Black Intelli- gence,” a condensed version in the Atlantic Monthly of June, 1972. Further implications for experimental psychology are spelled out in Cole and Bruner 1972 Chapter 6 presents the most important data to proceed from our research: the comparison of reading success and failure with partic- ipation in the vernacular culture. Here we document the claim that the major problem in reading failure is the political and cultural conflict within the classroom. Chapter 7 explores more deeply the relation of BEV to social structure. In this discussion of “the lin- guistic consequences of being a lame” I present in greater detail the data which justifies the distinction between the broader term “black English” and the more specific “black English vernacular.” Part III contains two studies of the vernacular culture itself. Chapter 8 deals with the institution of ritual insults and chapter 9 with personal narrative. In both chapters I have attempted to develop some of the fundamental rules of ‘ourse which will eventually enable us to treat the uses of language as systematically as we treatIntroduction xvii grammar. But these chapters are self-contained in their technical terminology and should be immediately accessible to all readers. Some chapters of this volume have appeared elsewhere and are modified and rewritten to fit in with the present overall perspective and organization of the book. Chapter 3 in particular contains a radically revised formal interpretation of variable rules quite differ- ent from the original version. Chapters 1, 6, and 8 have been consid- erably revised here from their original form. Chapters 2, 7, and 9 were written for this book and have not previously appeared in print. Source material for much of this discussion is to be found in the following two technical reports on our research in south-central Harlem: W. Labov, P. Cohen, and C. Robins, Cooperative Research Report 3091, “A Preliminary Study of the Structure of English Used by Negro and Puerto Rican Speakers in New York City” (1965); and W. Labov, P. Cohen, C. Robins, and J. Lewis, Cooperative Research Report 3288, “A Study of the Nonstandard English of Negro and Puerto Rican Speakers in New York City.” Volume I: Phonological and Grammatical Analysis. Volume II: The use of language in t speech community (1968). These reports are currently being repro- duced by the U.S. Regional Survey, 204 No. 35th St., Philadelphia 19104. Throughout this report, references will be made to the final report as “CRR 3288.” (In other publications, this is referred to as Labov, Cohen, Robins, and Lewis 1968). Detailed accounts of the methods used in our research are given in these reports. Individual interviews are discussed in 3091 and the group sessions and experimental methods in 3288. In the remaining pages of this introduction I would like to give the reader some idea of these methods, since to evaluate what we have done it is necessary to present first some information on how it was done. The nine chapters that follow are about the structure and the use of the vernacular; they are not “expert opinion” or intuitive notions about black English elicited in a formal setting. To obtain that information, we had to solve the Observer's Paradox, described in some detail in chapter 8 of Sociolinguistic Patterns which sums up the experience of previous sociolinguistic research in Martha's Vineyard, New York City and elsewhere. To obtain data on the most systematic form of language (the vernacular), we must observe how people speak when they are not being observed. The warrant for the nine chapters to follow must depend on the various methods we xvii